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The President of the Republic had a meeting with General Carlton W. Fulford
17.10.2001
President Arnold Rüütel received the Deputy Commander in Chief of the Unied States European Command General Carlton W. Fulford in Kadriorg today. The President thanked the United States of America for the support to Estonian statehood, for which Estonia is very grateful. As General Fulford said, Arnold Rüütel is the President of Estonia at a historic time when Estonia will be accepted both to the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union. Arnold Rüütel reiterated that all the Estonian Governments and President Lennart Meri had worked hard to prepare Estonian Defence Forces so that Estonia and her defence forces are firmly on the path to NATO.
General Fulford thanked Estonia for the support to the United States of America in the fight against international terrorism. As he said, the United States are committed to NATO, also to Article 5, which means that if Estonia, when a member of NATO, would be threatened, the United States would come to assistance. General Fulford has visited Estonian soldiers in Bosnia and is convinced that Estonia as a nation and a state shares the same values as the United States and is thus a valuable member of NATO.
As General Fulford said, the allocation of 2 per cent of the GDP to the defence expenditure is certainly a very important message of Estonias commitment. He added that he admired Estonia considerably and understood, how difficult it is to build modern defence forces from scratch in ten years, whereas building up other social structures at the same time. Estonias asset is her mature banking system and control of money flows, and as the General said, in this area Estonia could also advise her neighbours. The General was also impressed by the fact that Estonians are studying in the US military academies, which has certainly helped to restore the culture of Estonian defence forces.
Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, October 17, 2001
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